Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is hopeful that Friday night's thumping of West Ham United in the FA Cup will give his players confidence that they can beat any opponent thrown at them.

The North-West outfit have had an inconsistent run of late, with Guardiola seemingly unsure of what his best XI is.

City currently sit fifth in the Premier League table, seven points adrift of leaders Chelsea after dropping points in a 1-0 loss to Liverpool over the festive period.

The defence has come under criticism at times, particularly in the full-back areas, but there were only positives at the London Stadium as City booked a place in the fourth round of the FA Cup with a resounding 5-0 win.

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Yaya Toure netted from the penalty spot, while David Silva, Sergio Aguero and an own goal from Havard Nordtveit helped them along.

John Stones rounded off the result with his first ever goal for the club since his summer move to the Etihad Stadium.

Guardiola hopes now that his team can gain confidence and push on in their quest to win silverware this season. The Spaniard told BBC Sport:

"We were able to keep the ball better than the last games and we created more chances. Before the penalty, we had three or four chances and with the second and third goals it was easier for the second half.

"It is important to win away, it is not easy. Hopefully it can help us to make our players believe that they are good enough to play every game. I would like to involve our fans and they can believe that we are good.

"I do not know what happened in the past but we are good guys, so all the season we run a lot, fight a lot, playing good, sometimes not playing good. But they have to believe they can compete everywhere against every team."

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